Diasporas: Concepts, Intersections, Identities - Softcover

Professor Kim Knott; Doctor Sean McLoughlin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1842779486 ISBN 13: 9781842779484

Publisher: Zed Books, 2010

Synopsis

Despite the increasing importance of the concept of 'diaspora', including its widespread use in academic case studies and in the self-description of a number of minority communities, the subject has to date received relatively little general scholarly treatment. Featuring essays by internationally-renowned scholars from disciplines such as history, religion, political science, geography, sociology, anthropology, postcolonial literature and cultural studies, this timely collection addresses this lack by charting the various ways in which global population movements and associated social, political and cultural issues have been seen through the lens of 'diaspora'. Wide-ranging and interdisciplinary, the book contains examinations of major concepts and theories, including migration, ethnicity and postcolonialism. It also provides introductions to selected key diasporas from the Russian-Jewish diaspora to the Iranian diaspora in the West as well as discussions of diaspora in relation to a range of important issues and processes, and explorations of new directions in research. An essential text for anyone studying, working or interested in this increasingly vital subject.

About this title

Review:

Simultaneously panoramic and precise, this volume offers authoritative, inclusive, yet blessedly focused articles on the terms, concepts, and perspectives that collectively define the field of diaspora studies. --Professor Khachig Tololyan, Editor, 'Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies'

About the Author:

Kim Knott is professor of religious studies at the University of Leeds, UK, and director of Diasporas, Migration and Identities, a programme funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) that has brought scholars together from all over Britain and from a wide range of disciplines. She has worked on South Asian religious diasporas, particularly British Hindus, and on migration, ethnicity and identity, with publications including Hindus in Leeds, My Sweet Lord: The Hare Krishna Movement, and Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction. In conjunction with government and voluntary sector partners she has researched issues of religious and ethnic diversity and representation. In The Location of Religion: A Spatial Analysis and later articles, she has developed a spatial methodology for researching places, bodies and organisations in which controversies occur about matters of sacred concern, whether religious, secular or postsecular. Seán McLoughlin is senior lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leeds, UK. Trained in the study of religion, Islam and anthropology, he is an expert on various aspects of South Asian heritage Muslims in Britain and has worked on a number of public projects, as well as giving invited lectures across Europe and in the United States. Co-editor of European Muslims and the Secular State, most recently he was principal investigator on an AHRC Diasporas' network, From Diaspora to Multi-Locality: Writing British-Asian Cities (2006-9). A related co-edited volume, Writing the City in British-Asian Diasporas, is in preparation, as is a single-authored book, Representing Muslims: Religion, Diaspora and the Politics of Identity.

About this edition

• Publisher: Zed Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1842779486
• ISBN 13: 9781842779484
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336
• Editor: Professor Kim Knott, Doctor Sean McLoughlin